None of these strictures, however, should inhibit any one of us, in his individual capacity, from declaring himself on the issues of the trial and its fairness So in spite of my insistence on the limits of my official capacity, I personally want to say that I am appalled and ashamed that things should have come to such a pass in this country that I am skeptical of the ability of black revolutionaries to achieve a fair trial anywhere in the United States. In large part this atmosphere has been created by police actions and prosecutions against the Panthers in many parts of the country. It is also one more inheritance from centuries of racial discrimination and oppression . The first contribution to the fairness of the trial which anyone can make is to cool rather than heat up the atmosphere in which the trial will be held.

ATTRIBUTION:

KINGMAN BREWSTER, president of Yale, statement to a closed meeting of the faculty of Yale College, explaining why the university could not use its funds to help the defendants in the Black Panther murder trial.The Washington Post, editorial, May 5, 1970, p. A16.